I am grateful for deep breaths and silent whispers.  I am grateful for the way wind whispers over the willowy grasses.  I am grateful for sudden storms and that first warm touch at the end of an evening.

Have you ever noticed that people who spend all their time thinking about themselves are deeply unhappy?  Not everyone and not every time but enough so that it is something of a rule.  The selfish athlete who is unhappy that he does not get the ball enough.  The spoiled, young and rich Hollywood brat that is circles like rogue planet around jail, and drugs, drunkenness and car wrecks.  You might have at one time thought:  how dare someone who has so much not be happy?   And then it occurred to you so sharply that even you would have been surprised as how big the “OH” was on your face when you first realized.  If being young, rich and happy didn’t keep these people out of the tabloid headlines in a bad way, the Secret to happiness must lie else where.

Being hungry can help you learn, compete and grow, but it may not make you happy.  Certainly being hungry in and of it self can not make you happy.  After all, that pop tart that just got out of rehab was hungry to.  The problem is she has yet to decide or figure out what she is hungry for.  Such people almost invariably seek out destructive behaviors.

Almost anyone who is addicted to adulation is destined for heartbreak.  Not everyone will like everything you do and say forever.  It doesn’t work that way.  And what is worse, you will fall victim to a corollary of the “Absolute power corrupts absolutely dictum.”  Absolute fame also corrupts absolutely.  The moment you start thinking that yours doesn’t stink and that you can do no wrong, you will inevitably find that wrong for which their is little or no forgiveness.  And then you have to pretend to be apologetic when all your really feel is hurt and confusion.

Oddly enough, we can actually learn something from vapid Hollywood types.  To be happy you have to be happy.  It can be a mistake to say to your self:  “If only…”  If only you had more money, more time, more sex, more fame.  If all your hours are filled with this you are guaranteed to be unhappy.  If you can be happy every time you see the sunrise then you will be happy indeed.  Moreover, if you can be happy to see the sunset then surely your happiness is complete.  There are perfect moments like unfolding flowers which are better experienced than analyzed.  The perfect song, the perfect game, sunlight in a forest grove. 

If we are happy and thankful for small moments of pleasure or joy and if we share that thankfulness will others then not only we will be happy but so will others.  The Law of Attraction works better if you are attractive.  This does not mean you need Hollywood good looks, it means that the people you meet should be happy to have met you this day.  Not everyone, not every time.  Sometimes one it is enough.  Sometimes all we need is one kind word or a smile from a stranger to pull us out of a funk and allow us to decide it was a good day after all. 

To get a blessing be a blessing to others.  Cultivate an Attitude of Gratitude.  Make people thankful for you this Thanksgiving.  Do at least one act of kindness each day that there is no way you will ever benefit from.

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